These crusty savoury snitzels, a favourite with my family, are known as 'snitzel von crumb', or just 'von crum'. We love them with a creamy mash and steamed broccoli, or with salad and oven-baked fries. A quick tomato and caper salsa makes a great accompaniment.

Here's my take on the much-loved pasta dish from the town of Amatrice, spaghetti all'Amatriciana. If you can’t find cubed pancetta, buy a small slab of it and cut it into large cubes. If pancetta is not available, use a small slab of bacon instead, and failing that, thick-sliced bacon.

This is pretty much my desert-island dish – plump roast chicken with crispy skin and juicy fall-off-the-bone flesh, nicely scented with garlic and herbs, served at room temperature on a crisp colourful salad of just-picked leaves tossed with a tangy dressing. Of course I’d have spuds simply because I am like that. This dish is nothing short of spectacular, and the one to make this weekend, or sometime soon, or even right now!